POCKET SERIES NO. 484 
Edited by E. Haldeman-Julius 


Hints on Raisin 
Farm Crops 

R. A. POWER, B. S. 


IB 185 
. P6 

Copy 1 


haldeman-julius company 

GIRARD, KANSAS 








POCKET SERIES NO. 484 

Edited by E. Haldeman-Julus 

Hints on Raising 
Farm Crops 

R. A. Power, B. 8. 

* 



HALDEMAN-JULIUS COMPANY 
GIRARD, KANSAS 



Copyright, 1923, 
Haldeman-Julius Company 



HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 


FARM CROPS IN GENERAL 

The first farmer was the first man, and 
all historic nobility rests on possession and 
use of land.—Emerson. 

Thus spoke Emerson. We are not only con¬ 
cerned in the use of land, but just what crops 
are planted in the soil to feed the nation, as 
well as make possible a method of permanent 
agriculture. The crops which the farmer 
raises on his farm today are not new. They 
were, for the most part, raised thousands of 
years ago. It will be the purpose of these pages 
to discuss the crops raised by a majority of the 
farmers of this country, as well as such timely 
topics as how these crops may be raised to best 
advantage. This latter part must necessarily 
include such matters as the kind of soils best 
adapted for each crop, preparation of the seed 
bed, planting, cultivating, harvesting, disease 
and insect enemies, marketing, and the ulti¬ 
mate uses of these various crops. 

When a farmer iuts in a quantity of seed of 
any kind on a valuable piece of ground, he ex¬ 
pects to harvest a good crop. Many agencies 
conspire to prevent this expectation from being 
fulfilled, such as lack of moisture, too much 
moisture, damaging storms, hail, frosts, dis¬ 
eases and insects. Therefore, the farmer must 
contend with these difficulties—overcome them 


4 


HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 


if he can—but, in addition, he must give what 
aid he can to these crops to enable them to 
reach maximum yields by such methods as he 
has under his control. Land is too high priced 
to be tilled, seeded and then neglected, when 
a little cultivation at the proper time, or a 
determined effort to rid the crop of diseases or 
insect enemies, for instance, may spell the dif¬ 
ference between success and failure. 

Obviously, not every crop raised in this 
country can be discussed in these pages, due 
to lack of space. However, there are quite 
a few crops that are almost universally grown, 
and we will take these up separately, some¬ 
what in their order of importance. Of these 
crops, the grain crops are of first importance. 
A grain crop is a crop grown primarily for its 
seed. Such crops are corn, wheat, rye, bar¬ 
ley, oats, etc. Next in importance are the for¬ 
age crops. These crops are grown not for their 
seed, but for the entire plant, such as the 
leaves and stems. Such crops may be in the 
green stage, constituting pastures, or they may 
be cured as hay, for winter feeding of the farm 
animals. There is still another division of 
farm crops that we cannot ignore, and this 
division consists of root crops, such as pota¬ 
toes, beets, turnips, for example. / 

It seems almost unnecessary to emphasize 
the importance of farm crops. In the first 
place, man is dependent for his very life upon 
these crops, both directly and indirectly. He 
is dependent directly upon them as a means of 
food. Many of the grain crops are capable of 
being prepared for human consumption. Root 


HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 5 

crops are highly relished by man. But even 
greater than this, man requires farm animals 
for his existence, and these farm animals 
could not live and multiply in the vast num¬ 
bers found in this country, if it were not for 
the grain and forage crops furnished them by 
the farmer; and this is especially true when 
it comes to their winter existence. 

What about the choice of crops? What crops 
should a farmer in a given locality raise 
This will depend upon various factors. Cli¬ 
mate, soil, markets, etc., will largely determine 
this for the farmer. A long, hot season is es¬ 
sential for some crops, while other crops ma¬ 
ture completely in a shorter period of time. 
For instance, cotton could not be raised in the 
northern sections of the country, because the 
season is altogether too short to allow the crop 
to mature. Then there is a decided difference 
in soils. Some soils are naturally fertile, while 
others are poor, or even sterile. The char¬ 
acter of the soil also makes a difference as to 
what crops will make the best growth. Further¬ 
more, a farmer is not going to use his improved 
land, and waste his valuable time, growing a 
crop which does not bring a good price on the 
market. 

While the market quotations exercise a grdat 
influence upon the crops raised by the farmer, 
not all crops are sold on the market. On the 
contrary, a great deal of the farm crops are 
“sold” to the farm animals, and these in turn 
are marketed, or at least their products. Pas¬ 
tures, hays, silage and the grains raised on the 


8 HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 

Corn is generally grown in what farmers 
call a rotation of crops. This simply means 
that corn is grown one or two years on a cer¬ 
tain piece of land, then perhaps oats the next 
year, and clover for the next two or three 
years. The manure for land in such a rotation 
as just described, is best put on before the 
corn crop. One method that is used by a great 
number of farmers is to plow up the land that 
is to be put into corn the following year. This 
land, unless composed mostly of sand, should 
be plowed in the fall of the year, and then 
manure hauled on before spring, at the rate of 
ten to fifteen tons to the acre. This manure 
should be disced in, in the spring, so that it 
may be thoroughly incorporated in the soil. 
This gives the corn a good start in the spring, 
because the manure is where the young plants 
can reach it, and there will be no clogging of 
the moisture from below. 

Different types of soil will demand different 
operations for preparing the soil in the spring 
for the seed. When land is worked up to a 
good tilth in the spring, so that the seed will 
have the best opportunity of sprouting, we call 
such a condition of the soil, “a good seed bed.” 
In general, however, it is advisable to disc and 
then drag the land after it has been plowed. 
Fall plowing is generally to be preferred, but 
sometimes this cannot be done, so early spring 
plowing must be resorted to. After the plowed 
land is disced, and then dragged with a smooth¬ 
ing harrow, it is ready for planting. 

Corn is a plant that needs fairly warm tem¬ 
perature to germinate, or spout, so it is always 


HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 9 

planted late than the smaller grains, such as 
oats and barley, for instance. Usually each 
community has a standard date, at which time, 
they know that there is little likelihood of late 
frosts, and feel that they are reasonably safe 
to plant their corn by this time. In the north¬ 
ern states, this date is usually some time dur¬ 
ing the month of May. 

There are two generally recognized methods 
of planting corn. One is known as the drill 
method, while the other method is called the 
check-row system. Drilling the corn in rows 
seems to be the most popular method of the 
two. This consists of a horse-drawn planter, 
which drops the kernels about a foot apart in 
the row, with a distance of about forty inches 
between the rows. The check row system is 
..also done by a horse planter, whereby the ker¬ 
nels of corn are dropped in hill about forty- 
four inches apart each way. Either three or 
four kernels are dropped in each hill. This 
has a decided advantage in one respect, at 
least, in that the plants can be cultivated both 
ways, that is, they can be cultivated length¬ 
wise of the field, as well as crosswise, thus 
enabling the farmer to keep down weeds in an 
effective manner. There is usually not much 
difference in the yield of the crop, whether it 
is drilled or check-rowed, as experiments have 
shown that the yields are about equal, on the 
average. 

One of the most important factors in the suc¬ 
cess of a corn crop, is proper cultivation. From 
the moment the corn is planted, it has to fight 
a struggle for its existence. Small organisms 


10 HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 

will ruin the seed before it even germinates, if 
conditions are favorable for that process. Cut¬ 
worms are an annual pest that cut off the plant 
at night. There are several of such pests that 
we will discuss later, so will confine our study 
here to the matter of cultivation. Cultivation 
simply means the stirring of the surface soil 
to prevent loss of evaporation, admit air, kill 
weeds, etc. Shortly after the corn has been 
planted, it should be gone over .with a drag, to 
tear up what weeds remain. After the corn is 
up a few inches, it can be cultivated with a 
regular cultivator. Care must be exercised at 
this first cultivation, however, so that none of 
the corn plants are covered too much. One very 
good way, if using a riding cultivator, is to 
carry a stick, so that what plants are cov¬ 
ered by the shovels of the cultivator, can 
be quickly uncovered by the driver. The corn 
should be cultivated after a hard rain, as well 
as when the weeds commence to show. This 
keeps the moisture in the soil where it belongs. 
If the corn has been well taken care of before 
it gets too high, the weeds will be shaded out 
when the corn begins to “ear.” 

Corn is usually harvested with the ordinary 
corn binder, when used for silage or green 
fodder purposes. If the grain is wanted separ¬ 
ately, then the ears can be snapped off the 
.standing corn before the binder cuts it down. 
A corn binder is a horse-drawn implement that 
cuts the corn stalks within an inch or two of 
the surface of the ground, and ties the stalks 
together in conveniently-sized bundles. Thus 
the corn can be very easily handled. The corn 




•HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 11 

lean then be “shocked,” or many of these bun¬ 
dles put together in an upright position in the 
, field. This allows the corn to “cure out” so 
that it will not heat or mould later. A wagon 
can be driven into the field after the corn has 
been cut, and the ear corn can be thrown into 
the wagon and hauled to the corn crib, where 
it can be kept for future feeding purposes. A 
corn crib is a small structure with the base 
narrow, and the top comparatively wide, and 
instead of having solid sides, the boards com¬ 
posing the sides have a small space between 
them so that air may be encouraged to pass 
through the corn, to dry it out. 

Another common method of harvesting corn 
is what is known as “hogging off’ corn. This 
simply means that the hogs are turned into 
the corn as it is turning ripe, and allow the 
hogs to do the harvesting. This method, of 
course, is a labor saver. When this method is 
practiced, it is a good plant to sow some such 
crop as rape, during the last cultivation, so 
that when the hogs are turned in, they will 
i have a more palatable and balanced ration than 
the corn alone would afford. 

Corn, like other farm crops, has to contend . 
with many insects and diseases' that work to 
the detriment of the plant. Such insects, or ani¬ 
mal-pests as cutworms, wire worms, corn root 
louse, white grubs,; corn billbug, corn root- 
worms, grasshoppers, chinch bugs, corn ear- 
worm, and army worms, as well as crows and 
gophers all tend to reduce greatly the stand of 
! corn, and, in some cases, even totally destroy 
the crop. 







12 HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS * 

The most effective treatment for most of 
these pests consists of fall plowing (which aids 
in destroying the eggs of these insects) and 
rotating the crops, so that the corn will not 
be in dangerous proximity to the remaining 
eggs that hatch the following spring. Crows 
and gophers, mentioned as “pests,” attack the 
corn immediately after it is planted, taking 
the seed away, or destroying the young plants. 

It may he said here, that corn is relatively 
free from plant diseases, when compared with 
other farm crops. Probably the most serious 
disease is the smut disease, which is not seri¬ 
ous in itself, but only becomes a menace when 
the smutted corn is allowed to spread. This 
smut will not harm animals fed on such corn, 
but it lowers the sales value of the corn, and 
all smut should be carefully gathered and 
burned. 

Many farmers make a tidy profit from their 
corn crop by selling seed corn. This can be ac¬ 
complished by going out into the corn field 
when the corn is ripening, and selecting the 
ripe ears that are well shaped, and that are on 
good healthy, vigorous plants. These ears 
should then be placed in a well-ventilated build¬ 
ing, where they can be cured. This curing con¬ 
sists of allowing free circulation of air through 
the building, so that the moisture that is given 
off from these seed ears may be carried away 
by the moving air, dry air taking the place of 
the moist air. Even if a farmer wishes to 
save.seed for his own use, for the following 
year, this plan should be followed, if he wants 
corn of strong germinating power. Too many 


HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 13 

farmers allow their corn to be hung out to dry 
where it is exposed to the weather, as, for 
instance, out on the porch, the side of a build¬ 
ing, or possibly on the frame of a windmill. 
This practice will result in poor germinating 
corn the next spring, unless he is favored with 
exceptionally dry fall weather, and late freez¬ 
ing. 

WHEAT 

The crop next in importance to corn is wheat. 
Nearly everyone understands that wheat is the 
source of bread-making flour in this country, 
and it is raised over a wide range of territory. 

; As we are a heavy bread-eating nation, there is 
"always a market for this product, which is taken 
by the large flour mills and milled into flour. 
Wheat is adapted to a variety of soils, growing 
about as well on one type of soil as it does on 
another, providing moisture is present or sup¬ 
plied. 

There are two general types of wheat, known 
as spring wheat and winter wheat. Winter 
wheat is sown during the late summer or early 
fall, while spring wheat is sown early in the 
spring. In preparing the land for winter wheat, 
no essential differences are made, the primary 
object being to prepare a mellow, firm seed 
bed, so that the soil is well worked up, and 
a loose surface made on top of the soil, to 
check evaporation of moisture. In some cases 
the land is first plowed, and then carefully har¬ 
rowed; in others the wheat is seeded on disced 
or stubble land. If spring wheat is to be 





14 HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 

planted, it is a better practice to fall-plow the 
land, and disc it the following spring, rather 
than to disc it in the fall. 

In sowing wheat, it has been found that a 
drill gives much better satisfaction than sow¬ 
ing it broadcast. When a drill is used, the 
seeds are covered, and the wheat is planted 
at a uniform depth, which is not possible with 
a broadcast seeder. It is not advisable to plant 
the wheat very deep in the soil, but just deep 
enough to allow the wheat to secure sufficient 
moisture for germination. If planted, too deep, 
the wheat seedlings will experience difficulty 
in forcing their way up to the surface of the 
soil. 

Wheat, like the other small grains, is not a 
cultivated crop, and is sown in rows very close 
together. Consequently, after the crop has been 
put into the ground, nothing much can be done 
to encourage its growth. Occasionally, wheat 
that has been drilled is harrowed after it is 
up, to give the weeds a final combing, but 
this should always be done in the same direc¬ 
tion of the drilled rows, and never crosswise 
of the rows. 

In most sections of the country, wheat is 
harvested with grain bidders, which are horse- 
drawn implements that cut the plant close to 
the ground, and then tie them up into bundles 
that can be easily handled for curing and 
threshing purposes. In a few sections of the 
country, a machine called the header is used, 
whereby just the tops of the plants are har¬ 
vested, but the more common method is by 
means of the grain binder, already mentioned. 


HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 15 

After the grain has been cut by the grain bind¬ 
er, already mentioned, the bundles of wheat 
should be immediately gathered and put into 
shocks. This consists of piling about a dozen 
of these bundles together, standing them up¬ 
right, and leaning them one against the other, 
with a couple of bundles placed on top. This 
enables the wheat to rid itself of considerable 
moisture before being threshed. 

Some farmers prefer to stack their grain be¬ 
fore threshing. This is to be commended, as 
the wheat is protected from damaging rains, 
and also is enabled to go through what is 
known as a “sweating process” before being 
threshed. A certain amount of skill is needed 
to he able to stack grain, as the pile is made 
wide at the base, and gradually tapers to 
the top. 

Some farmers thresh from the shock, while 
others thresh from the stack. Unless a farmer 
is reasonably sure that he can get a threshing 
machine to come to his farm at the right time, 
he is far safer to stack his grain, rather than 
i to take a chance on the weather. Of course, 
shock threshing is cheaper, as the grain does 
not have to be handled as much by this method, 
but a better color and quality of grain can be 
secured by first stacking it, and stacking is a 
good insurance or protection against damaging 
storms. / 

There are only two very serious diseases 
that attack w T heat: rust, which attacks both the 
leaves and the stems ,and smut. Both are due 
to fungi, and no successful treatment has yet 








16 HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 

been devised to overcome these diseases. Some 
varieties have been developed that are more re- *’ 
sisting to rust than other varieties, but there 
still remains considerable work to be done be¬ 
fore wheat can be entirely free from rust. 
Smut also exists in two forms, known as “loose 
smut” and “stinking smut.” Loose smut is 
very difficult to control. Some farmers soak 
the wheat in cool water about four hours, and 
then soak it for about ten more minutes in 
hot water having a temperature of about 129 
degree Fahrenheit. The stinking smut is more 
easily controlled by soaking the wheat in a 
formaldehyde solution. The strength of this 
solution should be about one pint of 40 per cent 
formaldehyde to forty-five gallons of water. As 
the spores of this disease are contained on the 
•outside of the wheat kernel, this strong solu¬ 
tion kills them. Hjm 

Chinch bugs, Hessian fly, and grasshoppers 
annually exact a heavy toll from the wheat 
crop. These pests are diffuctl to control, but 
in general, they are best handled by fall plow¬ 
ing, rotation of crops, and burning any rubbish 
that has accumulated, so that they will have 
little opportunity to live over winter. 

The marketing of wheat is constantly becom¬ 
ing a more and more important item to the 
farmer. One of the disadvantages of farming, 
is the poor system of marketing the farm prod¬ 
ucts. The farmer sells his products for what 
the market will pay, instead of on the basis of 
what it cost him to raise the crop. It can be 
seen that he is at a disadvantage in this re¬ 
spect. Compare him to the manufacturer, for 


HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 17 

instance. The latter makes up his product, fig¬ 
ures out what it cost him to make the product, 
and then adds enough for a reasonable profit. 
But the farmer cannot do this, due to unorgan¬ 
ized marketing. All he can do now is to watch 
the markets, and then when his wheat, or any 
other commodity, reaches a high point, he will 
haul it to town and sell it, if he is so situated 
as to properly store the product without loss. 
More often, however, he has to haul his grain 
to market immediately after it has been 
threshed, as he lacks storing space, and thereby 
is forced to accept the prevailing market price 
at the height of the harvesting season, which 
price is usually at a low point. Much is now 
being done, however, to provide storage ware¬ 
houses for the farmers products, rendering him 
independent of such conditions. There has been 
much speculation in wheat in the past, at the 
farmer’s expense, but with better marketing 
facilities, this will probably be eliminated. 

BARLEY/ 

/ 

Barley as a grain crop, is not raised as ex¬ 
tensively as either corn, wheat or oats. How¬ 
ever, recent experiments have shown that it 
has an excellent feeding value, when mixed 
with other feeds, for farm animals, especially 
hogs and dairy cattle. It was previously raised 
in this country for malting purposes, but is 
now used chiefly as a feed for farm animals. 
Barley is one of the oldest grains known to 
man, it being mentioned in one of the first 
books of the Bible. 


18 HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 

Barley does its best on a soil that is neither 
too light nor too heavy. A well-drained loam, 
rich in fertility, is the best barley land. This 
crop is primarily a surface feeder. Its roots 
do not extend as deep as wheat or oats, which 
explains why barley is a crop that needs fair¬ 
ly rich top soil to grow successfully. Care 
should be taken that the ground is not too 
heavily fertilized with barnyard manure, how¬ 
ever, because too rank a growth of straw 
might result, which would encourage the bar¬ 
ley to lodge, or fall over. 

The same precautions in preparing the seed 
bed for wheat should be taken when getting 
the ground ready for barley. Fall-plowed land 
is to be preferred, because the land can be 
worked up quicker in the spring than spring- 
plowed land. Barley is a crop that can be put 
in quite early in the spring, it is therefore, 
obvious that fall-plowed land is quite an ad¬ 
vantage. It is especially desirable that with 
barley, none but the largest and plumpest seeds 
should be sown, because this is the best way 
to promote an even stand, and a vigorous crop. 

Barley is generally sown at the rate of two 
bushels to the acre, unless in a dry section, 
where the quantity is reduced proportionately. 
Much better yields can be obtained, as in the 
case of wheat, by sowing with a drill rather 
than a broadcast seeder. Like wheat, it is 
not a cultivated crop, so little labor is de¬ 
manded in growing this crop. 

The harvesting of barley is done in a some¬ 
what similar way as wheat. When the barley 
M an the “hard dough” stage, it is cut with 


HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 19 

a grain binder, and is gathered and set up 
in shocks. The shocks are allowed to cure 
out for about ten days or more, before they 
are piled in stacks. Because a bright yellow 
appearance of barley adds considerable to its 
market value, it is good business to stack the 
barley, as the farmer takes quite a chance 
when he leaves it in the shock until threshing 
time, which is sometimes several months after 
harvesting. There are a few sections of the 
country, however, where there is little danger 
of rain during threshing time; in these locali¬ 
ties shock threshing is a common practice. 

Not much need be said in regard to the in¬ 
sects and diseases of barley, as they are prac¬ 
tically the same which ravage our wheat fields. 

Barley and oats are used in a similar manner 
in the rotation of crops. They usually follow 
a corn crop, and precede a grass crop. Barley' 
has been used in the past quite extensively as 
a nurse crop, as it is less apt to smother the 
grass crop, and is not so severe as other nurse 
crops in extracting moisture from the soil. 
Which is needed by the grass crop, being 
“nursed.” However, we will discuss the value 
of a nurse crop a little more in detail in our 
next chapter under oats. 

OATS 

Oats are widely grown in this country, es¬ 
pecially in the northern part. They are ex¬ 
ceeded in acreage only by wheat and corn in 
the grain class. While not as old a plant as 
barley, still records show that the early Greeks 


•20 HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 

and Romans raised oats as one of their stand¬ 
ard crops. Oats do well on a variety of soils, 
but give the best yield on loamy soils, that 
are fairly moist, as oats draw quite heavily 
an the moisture supply of the soil, especially 
at the time of ripening. Oats do better in a 
cool climate than in a hot one, and are one 
of the first seeds to germinate in the spring. 
For this reason, oats are usually planted as 
soon as possible in the spring, as this gives 
them a good start, permitting them to attain 
their growth before the intense summer heat 
sets in. 

We might mention here the same precau¬ 
tions in regard to the manuring of oat land 
that were given in regard to barley in the 
previous chapter. Ground freshly manured is 
quite liable to cause the oats to lodge, or to 
fall ove» on the ground. Even land that is 
plowed, while no manure is applied the same 
season as oats are sown, often causes the 
oats to lodge. Many farmers prevent lodging 
of oats to a large extent by not plowing their 
oat land, but simply discing it, and then sow¬ 
ing. This gives the oat plants a better bal¬ 
anced ration of the plant food elements. When 
oats are raised on the same land two or more 
years in succession, then the ground had best 
be fall-plowed, and then disced in the spring. 

The choice of seed oats is an important mat¬ 
ter, and'is worthy of the farmer’s attention. 
It will pay him to run his seed oats through 
a fanning mill to clean out the light, immature 
seed, as well as what foreign matter there 
might be present, such as dirt, chaff, etc. 


21 


HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 

Light, immature, shriveled kernels are slow to 
germinate, and sometimes fail to germinate at 
all; a farmer, therefore, loses to the extent 
that he sows these inferior oats. A fanning 
mill will clean out these undesirable seeds, 
and leave nothing but good healthy oats which 
will grow into a vigorous plant. Another im¬ 
portant point to be noticed in this connection, 
is the matter of treating seed oats for smut. 
Smut is a common disease with oats in many 
sections where they are raised, and a great 
annual loss is incurred by farmers every year 
from this disease. This smut, which was brief¬ 
ly mentioned in connection with wheat, is 
caused by a fungus, which attacks the plant 
about ripening time, and replaces the kernels, 
so that the farmer is usually not aware of the 
great loss it causes. The spores of the smut 
spread about ripening time to the other healthy 
kernels, and live unmolested in this stage un¬ 
til these healthy kernels are used for seed the 
next spring. Then the smut begins to grow 
as the kernel sprouts, and sends up fine thread¬ 
like hairs through the stalk of the oat plant, 
and then again replaces the kernels with a 
mass of smut. This calls for treatment every 
year, if the farmer wants to be sure that he 
will be free from this disease. The treatment 
consists of the formaldehyde bath, explained 
in detail under the chapter on wheat. 

Oats are harvested in a manner similar to 
that of wheat and barley. They are cut, when 
ripe, by a grain binder which ties them into 
conveniently sized bundles. They are then 
shocked, as previously described, and allowed 


I 


22 HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 

to cure out. They can be stacked later, or 
left in the shock, but better results will be 
obtained if they are stacked before being 
threshed. 

The insects and diseases that attack the oat 
crop are the same that harm the wheat and 
barley grains. As was said before, there is 
little chance to combat rust successfully, but 
the treatment for smut has already been given. 

Oats are used in rotation the same as bar¬ 
ley, that is, they follow a corn crop, and pre¬ 
cede a grass crop. When the oats are sown, 
it is customary to sow the grass crop at the 
same time, if a legume, as alfalfa and the 
clovers require two years to become fairly 
established. If the oat crop is harvested the 
first of August, for instance, and clover was 
seeded with the oats, then the clover will con¬ 
tinue to make growth after the oats have 
been removed from the land, but should not 
be pastured to stock this year. This gives the 
clover a chance to make sufficient top growth 
to withstand the winter, in order that a good 
crop of clover can be had the following sum¬ 
mer. 

Oats are becoming more and more popular 
as a nurse crop. This is especially true with 
alfalfa. But when this crop is used as a nurse 
crop with alfalfa, it is cut before the oats 
ripen, and used for hay. The reason for this 
operation is the following: if the oats are left 
to ripen, and later cut for grain, during this 
ripening process, they draw heavily on the 
moisture supply of the soil. But this period 
is just the critical time of the young alfalfa’s 


HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 23 

life. It is usually quite hot and dry at the 
time of cutting oats, and if the alfalfa plants 
are denied a fair portion of moisture at this 
time, they will not all survive the ordeal, with 
the result that only a portion of the stand 
will he obtained that could be had under the 
other system. Consequently, an increasingly 
number of farmers are following the method 
of cutting the oats green for hay, rather than 
allowing them to ripen, when alfalfa is sown 
at the same time as the oats. 

Oats are a crop that is used widely on our 
American farms. All horses relish oats as a 
feed, while cows, hogs and chickens thrive 
well on this feed, either as whole oats or 
ground. Oats are also used as food by people 
of some countries in the form of oat-meal or 
“porridge,” a breakfast cereal. One of the 
best products from the oat crop, besides the 
oat grain, is the straw. Oat straw is ideal 
for bedding the farm animals, and also con¬ 
tains some feeding value, but oat straw is 
not to be recommended as a farm animal feed, 
unless there is an acute shortage of hay. 

MISCELLANEOUS GRAIN CROPS 

One of the important grain crops grown in 
this country is rye, although this crop is large¬ 
ly grown as a catch or cover crop, as well 
as a grain crop. Rye is probably grown more 
as a grain crop in some of the European coun¬ 
tries than it is in our own country, as rye 
bread is used to a large extent in Europe. 
The rye grain is not very popular in this coun- 


24 HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 

try for feeding farm animals, as it is subject 
to a disease called ergot, that is harmful to 
cattle, especially. 

We used the expression “cover crop,” and 
stated that rye is very popular for this pur¬ 
pose. A cover crop is a crop sown on the 
land after the regular crop is removed, so that 
the land does, not wash, especially on hilly 
land, and that the organic matter of the soil 
can be replenished. It is a very common prac¬ 
tice, ill tljjs country, to sow this on the land 
after crop such as tobacco, has been removed. 
Rye is allowed to grow as high as it can dur¬ 
ing the fall of the year, and in the spring, 
before it is a foot high, it is plowed under. 
This greatly increases the humus matter of 
the soil, and thereby improves the physical 
texture of the soil. A common mistake amongst 
farmers, however, is to allow this rye to grow 
too rank, so that when it is plowed under, it 
interferes with the moisture coming up from 
the lower soil. This occurs when the rye 
is allowed to grow too tall. Consequently, if 
a dry season occurs, the following crop is shy 
of moisture, because of this interference with 
the natural capillary rising of moisture from 
the sub-soil to the top-soil. 

Rye will grow on nearly any kind of soil and, 
for this reason, is often raised on soils low in 
fertility. However, it does its best on rich soils. 
We have two distinct kinds of rye in this coun¬ 
try, known as winter rye and spring rye, but 
the winter rye is by far the most popular. 
Owing to the fact that rye is capable of mix¬ 
ing with other varieties, we have no distinct 


HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 25 

types of rye as we do of wheat, oats and 
barley, because these other types of grain are 
self-pollenated. After the summer crop has 
been removed, the land should be worked up, 
or at least disced, and the rye sown as soon 
as possible. In the green stage, it affords the 
farmer a good late fall pasture, or an early 
pasture for his cattle, should he need it, be¬ 
cause cattle pasture is often quite scarce at 
these particular times. 

If rye is to be used as grain, it can be sown 
in September in the North, or in October in 
the South. It will then be in shape to harvest 
in good season the following summer. As the 
method of harvesting this crop is the same 
as the other grain crops already discussed, we 
will not repeat these operations. 

Ergot has already been mentioned as the 
prevailing disease of this plant. It appears as 
black or purplish spots on the kernels, and is 
easily seen about harvest time. The best 
method of eradicating this disease is by ro¬ 
tating the crop. This ergot, when fed to cat¬ 
tle in the rye, is liable to cause abortion 
amongst the cattle; it is, therefore, seldom 
fed to cattle. Rye is less susceptible to in¬ 
sect ravages than wheat and oats, but the 
same remedies are resorted to when these pests 
do appear. 

FLAX 

Flax is a crop that is grown to a large exteqi 
in this country. This plant is capable of be¬ 
ing put to a variety of uses, and therefore is 
quite popular in some sections, at least, as a 


26 HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 

cash crop, or a crop that will supply the farm¬ 
er with ready cash. Many different kinds of 
cloth are made from the flax fiber, and flax 
seed is used for a variety of purposes. The 
seed is too high priced to be used as feed for 
the farm animals, as the seed can be pressed, 
or heated, and a valuable oil is extracted, which 
is used as an ingredient of paints, varnishes, 
etc. This is called linseed oil, a product fa¬ 
miliar to the average housewife. But we still 
have a further use for this seed even after 
the oil has been extracted. The remainder 
is very rich in protein, and is prized very 
highly by feeders of live stock. It is marketed 
as linseed oil meal, and cattle and other an¬ 
imals relish it in this form. 

Flax is a common crop in newly-settled dis¬ 
tricts, as, for instance, on some of the land 
west of the Mississippi. It is especially val¬ 
uable as a first crop on land that has never 
been cropped before, as it has been found ex¬ 
cellent in preparing the tough sod for agri¬ 
cultural purposes. Many settlers have been 
known to put their entire farm into flax the 
first year, and pretty near pay for their land 
if they had a good flax year. The crop will 
not stand constant seeding, however, on the 
same land, as the ground soon becomes “flax 
sick” if put into flax continually. 

On old land, just as much pains should be 
taken in the preparation of the seed bed as 
for any other grain crop, but on new, or virgin 
soil, the new sod is often just turned over flat 
in the fall or early spring, running the disc 
sharply in the spring over the fall-plowed soil. 


27 


HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 

Even on new land, the extra work involved 
usually pays for itself in the increased yield. 

Flax is a crop that should be ripe at the 
same time. For this reason, it is advisable 
to take particular pains with the selection of 
th.e seed. The seed should be run through a 
fanning mill so that all foreign matter, and 
light, immature seed may be discarded. If 
nothing but uniform seed is sown, and planted 
at a uniform depth, then the plants should all 
mature at the same time. In order to prevent 
a disease known as the flax wilt, the for¬ 
maldehyde treatment should be applied, which 
was described under wheat. 

Half a bushel, or better, is the usual rate 
of seeding flax to the acre. This rate of seed¬ 
ing, while probably appearing to be a small 
amount, will produce best results, as it will 
encourage the flax to branch out and produce 
a heavier yield of seed than if a larger quan¬ 
tity were sown. The seed should be sown with 
a grain drill, covering the seed about one inch 
in depth. If, however, the seed is sown for 
fiber instead of the flax seed, then from one 
to two bushels should be sown per acre. 

In this country, where flax is largely raised 
for its seed, the crop is harvested as has al¬ 
ready been described for the various grains. 
For fiber flax, an entirely different process is 
used, which, however, we shall not take the 
space here to explain. 

One ,of the minor grain crops is buckwheat. 
This grain is used largely in the manufacture 
of pancake flour, although it makes very good 


28 HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 

feed for some of the farm animals, especially 
for poultry and hogs. 

Buckwheat does exceptionally well on poor 
soil and in some of the less fertile soils of 
this country, this crop is quite popular. Some 
of the eastern states raise considerable buck¬ 
wheat, New York and Pennsylvania being the 
leading growers of this crop. Buckwheat makes 
a quick, rapid growth, and is an excellent crop 
for plowing under or smothering out weeds. 

Buckwheat is seeded at the rate of about a 
bushel to the acre. It is sown either with a 
grain drill or a broadcast seeder. This crop 
is not cut with the ordinary grain binder, but 
with an implement known as the self-rake 
reaper, and is cured in bunches, these bunches 
not being tied as the previous grains were 
that we have discussed. It is not stacked as 
these other grains are, either, because it is 
quite liable to mold in the stack, but is hauled 
to the threshing machine direct from shocks 
wt "re it has been left to cure. 

MEADOWS 

A meadow is a piece of land devoted to the 
making of hay, or winter roughage for the 
farm animals. There are many different kinds 
of grass seed used for hay purposes, but the 
standard kinds of hay in this country are al¬ 
falfa, clover and timothy. There are many 
meadow lands on our American farms that 
have produced crops of hay continuously for 
many years, with low yields as a re%ult of 
this practice. 


HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROFS 


29 


There are some important points to be ob¬ 
served in the maintaining of a good meadow. 
The plants which compose the meadow should 
form a smooth, even turf of ground, rather 
than a bunchy surface, as it is essential that 
the ground be smooth for the efficient opera¬ 
tions of the haying implements—the mower, 
raker, etc. There should be enough seed sown 
so that the stems do not grow too coarse, and 
that weeds may be properly kept down. Only 
those plants should be used that cure readily 
into hay, as slow curing is a detriment to pal¬ 
atable hay. As the stems of the hay plants 
constitute one of the chief parts of the hay, 
it can be readily seen that these should n©t 
be too tough, nor allowed to grow too rank, 
because cattle will discriminate against such 
coarse feed. Hay plants usually have con¬ 
siderable food value in their leaves, and es¬ 
pecial care should be excersised in seeing to 
it that these leaves are not spoiled tfr lost in 
harvesting the hay. 

Anyone familiar with grass seed knows that 
this seed is quite small in size. Therefore, in 
preparing the seed bed for either pasture or 
hay land, it is even more important that the 
seed bed be worked up into a fine condition, 
for many of these small seeds will fail to 
germinate on a poorly-prepared seed bed. 
Firmness, mellowness and moisture are the 
three essentials to be kept in mind when pre¬ 
paring the land for new seeding. Further¬ 
more, maximum yields cannot be expected un¬ 
less the meadow land is fertile. If the grass 
seed is being sown alone (that is to say, with- 


30 HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 

out a nurse crop), a light application of manure 
may be plowed under with beneficial results. 
However, if a grain crop is being seeded at 
the same time, as is commonly practiced when 
clover or alfalfa is being sown, then the man¬ 
ure should be applied previously, as the manure 
applied the same year as the grain crop will 
encourage the grain, or nurse crop, to lodge. 

The selection of the seed is of first im¬ 
portance. Any farmer will testify to the im¬ 
purity of common grass seed sold on the mar¬ 
ket. A farmer usually has enough weeds on 
his land without buying any weed seed mixed 
with his grass seed. Many states demand that 
the purity of the seed be stated on the con¬ 
tainer in which he purchases his seed. This 
is an excellent law, when it is adhered to. 
There are many noxious weed seeds that close¬ 
ly resemble ordinary grass seed, and the farm¬ 
er should see to it that he is not being cheated. 
An ordinary hand lens can be used to advan¬ 
tage to detect these noxious weed seeds, or 
perhaps even a better way for the farmer is 
to send a sample of the seed, if there is any 
question in his mind as to the purity of the 
seed, to his state agricultural college, and have 
them analyze the seed as to its purity. 

Another factor that is too often neglected 
by the busy farmer, is the matter of germina¬ 
tion of the seed. As has been stated before, 
germination of seed means the number that 
will sprout, when placed under favorable con¬ 
ditions. For instance, if 93 seeds out of one 
hundred sprout, then we say that the germina¬ 
tion of that seed is 93 per cent. But many 


HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 31 

farmers say that they do not understand how 
to test out their seed for germination. This 
is a very simple matter. Just take two saucers 
and cut two pieces of flannel cloth or heavy 
blotting paper to fit the two saucers. This is 
all the equipment that is necessary. Then 
count out a standard number of seeds. 100 
seeds is a convenient number. With the small 
grass seed, this can be done very easily with 
the aid of a tooth-pick. Next moisten the 
flannel cloth or the pieces of blotting paper, 
whichever is used, and place the cloth or 
blotter in each of the saucers. Then place the 
100 seeds to be tested on one of the saucers 
containing the blotter, or cloth, and cover this 
with the other saucer with the cloth or blotter 
fitted inside it. Keep this in a warm room, 
and moisten every day, or at least every other 
day. Most seeds will germinate inside of two 
weeks under this treatment. Grass seeds are 
somewhat slower in germinating than are oth¬ 
er seeds; some, such as Kentuck Blue Grass, 
even taking three weeks to sprout. By this 
process, the farmer can soon get a very good 
idea as to the viability, or life, of his seed. 
Not only grass seed is capable of being tested 
in this manner for germination, but many of 
the larger seeds respond to this method of 
testing. If a farmer finds that some of the 
seed that he is planning on sowing in the 
spring is low in germinating, he can save a 
good deal of waste by sowing extra heavily 
of this seed, thereby allowing for the poor 
germinating power of the seed in question. 

There are various methods of sowing grass 


32 HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 

seed. It may be broadcasted by hand, which 
consists of simply scattering it as uniformly 
as possible by hand, or it may be sown with 
the regular broadcast seeders. Also there are 
certain attachments that come with some 
makes of grain drills that make this seeding 
a simple process. The wheel-barrow spreader, 
or seeder, is also used to quite an extent, and 
this perhaps gives about as even distribution 
of seed as any system. As grass seed is quite 
small, there is always a danger of covering the 
seed too deep. Unless in a dry climate, the 
seed can be sown on top of the land, and then 
a smoothing harrow, or drag, can be run over 
the seed, covering it from one-half to one 
inch in depth. Better results can be secured 
by covering it only half an inch than an inch 
deep. 

Most meadows are plowed up after a few 
years, and put to other uses, such as corn, 
small grains, etc., according to the prevailing 
rotations for particular sections of the country. 
However, on low land, or land that is not cap¬ 
able of raising a good crop of these other farm 
products, permanent meadows are quite com¬ 
mon. It is a common practice to pasture new 
seeding in the fall of the year by farmers who 
find that they have run short of pasture or 
some other form of feed. This is a practice 
that should be tabooed, because with legum¬ 
inous plants, which require two seasons to 
produce a crop, they are greatly weakened 
and often fail to survive the rigid winter 
weather of the North. These plants need all 
the top growth they can make during the first 


HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 33 

summer to protect them during the winter, and 
the farmer is well repaid the next season, in 
a sure crop, and a heavy yield, by insisting 
that the first year’s seeding be unmolested. 

There are various mixtures that are used 
for hay purposes, but perhaps the most com¬ 
mon mixture is timothy and clover. Timothy 
is a very hardy plant, and seldom dies in win¬ 
ter. Clover is more susceptible, however, to 
winter-killing, and the farmer usually mixes 
timothy seed with his clover seed, so that if, 
for any reason, the clover fails to come up, 
he still has the timothy to fall back on. Tim¬ 
othy is raised to a large extent for hay all 
over the country, as it is an especially good 
feed for horses, although not so good for cat¬ 
tle and hogs. There are various kinds of 
clover raised for both hay and pasture pur¬ 
poses, and the details of raising these clovers 
will be reserved for a separate chapter, but 
it may be said how that clover is well thought 
of, both for hay and pasture, by most Ameri¬ 
can farmers. Alfalfa will also be treated sep¬ 
arately. 

We will close this chapter with a few words 
on the manner of making hay. Hay, as a rule, 
is cut -when the plants are in bloom. Some 
kinds demand cutting before this time, how¬ 
ever, as there would be a large loss of leaves 
if they were allowed to ripen too much. The 
hay crop is cut with a mower, and then raked 
into- either wind-rows or in cocks. The hay 
is left in this condition for a day or two, so 
that some of the moisture of the green hay 
can be evaporated. When the hay that is left 


34 HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 

to cure is exposed to rain, a serious loss in 
the feeding value of the hay is suffered by 
the farmer. When the hay has sufficiently 
dried out, then the farmer loads the hay on a 
hay-rack, and stores it in his barn for winter 
feeding. The hay can be loaded on the hay¬ 
rack much easier by means of the modern hay 
loader, although this machine cannot be used 
on very hilly land. The old-fashioned method 
of “pitching” hay with the fork is still used 
by many farmers, however. 

PASTURES 

Pasture land is found on nearly all farms 
in this country, and it is safe to say that over 
a billion acres of land in America are devoted 
to this purpose. Pasture, as nearly everyone 
knows, is land seeded to one or more grass 
crops, in order that the farm animals may gra^e 
or feed on the crop while it is in the green 
stage. During the summer months, this method 
affords ideal feed for the various farm animals. 
The best land on the farm is not generally 
chosen for pasture land, but rather nveadow 
land that has become low in fertility, or hilly 
or low land on which it is difficult to cultivate 
other farm crops. However, many farmers pre¬ 
fer to include their pasture land in a system 
of rotation, but this has a drawback in that 
the best pasture plants do not give the highest 
returns always for the short time the pasture 
is allowed to remain as such. 

One of the most practical methods of estab¬ 
lishing a pasture is to convert a meadow that 


HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS S5 

has produced a few crops of hay into pasture 
land. Such crops as white clover and Kentucky 
blue grass usually find their way into these 
old meadows, and seed themselves, thus saving 
the farmer the work of especially preparing a 
separate pasture. Some farmers plan to leave 
their old meadows that have been seeded to a 
mixture of red clover and timothy to provide , 
pasture for their cattle, but these plants are not 
ideal for pasture, due to their inability to stand 
the tramping of the cattle. In a few of the 
western states, some farmers have successfully 
used alfalfa as a pasture crop. This practice is 
not general, although alfalfa makes an ideal 
feed for the animals during the summer time. 

A combination that has been gaining favor with¬ 
in the past few years with many farmers, es¬ 
pecially when their alfalfa or clover failed to 
survive the winter, is a combination of oats 
and Canadian field peas. This has been used 
successfully as an emergency hay crop, per¬ 
haps even more than an emergency pasture 
crop. However, as a pasture, the cattle should 
not be allowed to graze on this mixture until 
the peas are commencing to pod. 

There are numerous kinds of hog pastures, 
varying with the location in different parts of 
the country. Alfalfa has also been used with 
great success for this purpose, but in a some¬ 
what restricted area west of the Mississippi. 
Rape makes a very good hog pasture, either 
when sown alone, or when mixed with other 
seed, such as oats and Canadian field peas. 

In fact, too little attention has been given the 
matter of pasture for hogs in the past. For 


36 HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 

growing pigs, it is much more profitable to pro¬ 
vide them with a nutritious pasture, which 
will encourage them to forage around and se¬ 
cure the exercise that they need, as well as 
to reduce the cost of producing a pound of 
gain. When pigs are fenced up in a little lot, 
where no inducement has been provided to 
urge the pigs to rustle for themselves, they 
will seek a shady spot and stay there until 
they are fed some high priced feed by the 
farmer at the regular feeding hours. 

Some of our farm land has been devoted to 
pasture for a great number of years, and when 
such a permanent pasture is to be maintained, 
it should receive extra seeding occasionally, 
as well as a loosening of the sod, as this sod 
will likely become sod-bound in time. Weeds 
can be cut when they are found too numer¬ 
ous. These should be cut with a mower before 
they blossom, so that they cannot spread by 
their seed. If the old pasture land is occa¬ 
sionally disced, and grass seed sown at the 
same time, it will invigorate the pasture for 
the following years with the minimum expendi¬ 
ture of time and money. 

It is a common experience amongst farmers 
to find that their pastures dry up during a pro¬ 
tracted dry spell. This is particularly true of 
pastures containing any great amount of Ken¬ 
tucky blue grass. Because of this fact, the 
farmer will be money ahead if he provides for 
more pasture land than he would need during 
a wet season. This is best accomplished by 
having two pastures, and alternating his cattle 
from one pasture to another, thus allowing the 


HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 37 

depleted pasture a chance to revive itself, while 
the stock is grazing on the other pasture. 
Other farmers practice a method known as 
soiling, especially on high priced land, which 
consists of cutting green plants and hauling 
them in to the cattle in a small enclosure. 
This saves considerable tramping and waste 
of the green feed, but it involves a larger out¬ 
lay of labor. Some of the big dairy farmers 
get around this pasture shortage very nicely, 
by having a summer silo, so that when the 
pasture runs short, they can open up their 
extra silo, and keep the animals up in milk 
and flesh by this means. 

In order that a clearer idea of the important 
plants that compose meadows and pastures 
may be had, we will next take up some of 
these plants, explaining their best methods of 
culture, etc., separately, so that the principles 
governing their most favorable growth may be 
better appreciated. 

ALFALFA 

Alfalfa is one of the oldest plants used by 
man in feeding farm animals, but is a com¬ 
paratively new crop to this country. It was 
first raised successfully in this country along 
the Pacific coast, but did not grow very abun¬ 
dantly east of this section. However, it was 
such a wonderful crop, that constant attempts 
were made to raise alfalfa east of the Pacific 
states, and these attempts finally met with 
success. An early settler of Minnesota, Wen- 
delin Grimm, achieved quite a reputation 


38 HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 

amongst his neighbors for the splendid condi¬ 
tion of his stock in the spring of the year. 
When he migrated from Germany, he brought 
with him some hardy alfalfa seed, which he 
termed the “everlasting” alfalfa. He attributed 
the fine condition of his cattle to this alfalfa 
that he raised continually on the same field. 
Other farmers in other neighboring states had 
failed to have much success with their alfalfa 
because it was so easily killed during the win¬ 
ter. Grimm gave his neighbors some of his 
seed, and they had about as good success as 
Grimm did. This “everlasting” alfalfa finally 
attracted the attention of the Minnesota Col¬ 
lege of Agriculture, who soon procured some of 
Mr. Grimm’s seed, and disseminated it to other 
localities. To-day this seed has the reputation 
of being the best variety of alfalfa, due chiefly 
to its hardiness. 

As we have said previously, alfalfa can be 
used as a pasture plant as well as a hay crop, 
but its use is largely confined to hay with 
most alfalfa growers. From two to four cut¬ 
tings, or crops can be harvested from the al¬ 
falfa acreage in one year, depending upon the 
length of the growing season. In the northern 
states, usually two or three cuttings are made. 
Many of the northern states are commencing 
to confine their cuttings to two crops, because 
they have found that they are much more cer¬ 
tain of a good stand the following year when 
they leave a good top growth to protect the 
plants over winter. 

There is one particular reason why alfalfa 
has not become universally popular, and that 


HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 39 

is due to the fact that alfalfa demands a few 
specific conditions in order that it may thrive, 
and not many farmers are informed on these 
matters. It may be said that many farmers 
have tried out alfalfa, but they were not suc¬ 
cessful in securing a stand, so consequently, 
gave up the effort, thinking that alfalfa could 
not possibly grow on their farms. This is 
hardly true, however, as alfalfa can be made 
to grow almost anywhere, if conditions are 
made favorable for its growth. 

We will now discuss some of these points 
concerning alfalfa, and possibly succeed in 
persuading some farmer who might read these 
pages to give alfalfa a fair trial. We might 
as well begin with the seed. There are all 
kinds of seed on the market, advertised as 
Grimm’s genuine alfalfa seed. As all varieties 
of alfalfa seed look alike, it is difficult for 
the farmer to tell whether he is purchasing 
Grimm seed, or some of the common strains, 
until after he has raised it. A very safe method 
in securing the genuine Grimm seed, is to get 
in touch with reliable parties, such as the coun¬ 
ty agricultural agent, the Farm Bureau repre¬ 
sentative, or the state agricultural college, 
and have them secure the seed from sources 
that they know are reliable. This seed usually 
costs about fifty cents a pound, while the com¬ 
mon strains are much cheaper, but a hardy 
variety, such as Grimm’s, is well worth the dif¬ 
ference in price. 

It is now advocated to sow not less than fif¬ 
teen pounds to the acre. This enables the new 
crop to hold its own against weeds. Another 


40 HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 

essential point that must be kept in mind, is 
that the land must be well drained. Low land 
is not wanted for raising this crop, because the 
alfalfa plant sends down its roots for many 
feet into the soil in search of food, and if the 
seed is sown on low, wet land, the roots will 
be quite limited in their feeding area, and also 
a lack of air will be evident in the soil. Hence, 
the land selected for alfalfa should be high, 
well drained soil. Failure will result if this is 
not adhered to. 

The next important item that contributes tc 
successful alfalfa growing is the matter of soil 
acidity. Alfalfa will not thrive on sour, or acid 
soil. This fact alone has been the cause of 
countless failures in raising alfalfa. A sample 
of the piece of land selected for alfalfa can be 
sent to the county agent, or to the state agri¬ 
cultural college, and be tested for acidity. Most 
soils in humid, or wet, climates need lime to 
correct the acidity of the soil. Burnt lime, or 
pulverized limestone can be applied at the rate 
of from two to four tons to the acre, which is 
usually sufficient to make the soil “sweet.” 

Inoculation is the last item in successful 
alfalfa raising. This is because alfalfa manu¬ 
facturers nitrogen, an important plant food, 
by means of minute bacteria housed in the roots 
of the plant. These bacteria convert the 
nitrogen of the air into nitrogen that the plant 
can use. But these bacteria refuse to work in 
a sour soil. Therefore, if the soil has once been 
acid, or sour, these bacteria will probably be 
absent. Therefore, they will have to be sup¬ 
plied artifically. The easiest way in which this 


HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 41 

can be done is to buy a small bottle of alfalfa 
bacteria culture from a seed house, or from an 
agricultural college, and sprinkle the liquid 
f culture over the seed, just before planting, 
j This will supply enough bacteria to start the 
I young alfalfa plants in good shape. Another, 
; more laborious method, is to haul some soil 
l from a field that has already grown alfalfa, 
to the new piece, that is to be put into alfalfa. 
■ A few loads per acre is all that is generally 
needed. This involves much of the farmer’s 
time and energy, and when it is considered 
that a bottle of the bacterial culture can gen¬ 
erally be purchased from the state agricultural 
colleges for about twenty-five cents, it is hard¬ 
ly worth while to haul the soil on to the new 
field. If these few requirements that have been 
mentioned are provided, a good stand of al¬ 
falfa should result. To repeat, these require¬ 
ments are: hardy seed, well drained land, land 
free from acidity and proper inoculation. This 
may seem like rather exacting demands by the 
alfalfa plant, but when the value of alfalfa is 
compared to other hay or pasture plants, the 
effort is very much worth while. 

What has been said in the proper prepara¬ 
tion of the seed bed for other grass seed espe¬ 
cially applies to alfalfa. We will not repeat 
these directions, but suffice it to say that a 
good seed bed is imperative. Alfalfa can be 
seeded in at least two different ways. It can 
either be sown on land the middle of the sum¬ 
mer that has been worked periodically during 
the summer to preserve moisture and kill 
weeds, or it can be sown with a nurse crop. 


42 HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 

such as oats or barley (the latter being cul 
for grain or hay), thus getting a crop from 
the land the same year. Probably the most 
practical method for the farmer who does not 
want to waste his alfalfa ground the first year 
would be to sow the alfalfa seed in the spring 
with oats, and cut the oats for hay, rather than 
to allow the oats to ripen into grain. Wher 
oats or barley are used as a nurse crop, and 
cut for grain, rather than hay, there are strong 
possibilities that the alfalfa will be robbed oi 
a considerable amount of moisture through the 
ripening process of the grain. This is about 
the time that alfalfa needs the moisture the 
most; therefore, unless the nurse crop is cut 
green for hay, the young alfalfa plant is quite 
liable to suffer for lack of moisture, unless 
the season happens to be a wet one. 

After alfalfa has been sown under propei 
conditions, there is little left to be done until 
the crop is ready to harvest. Sometimes the 
weeds get a start on the young alfalfa, and 
when this condition prevails, it is well to go 
over the field with a mower, and cut the weeds 
as high as possible from the ground, so that 
they cannot reproduce themselves by seed. 
This clipping will not harm the young alfalfa 
plants, as they will leaf out again quite read¬ 
ily after this treatment. 

There is a diversity of opinion as to the 
proper time for cutting alfalfa for hay. Where 
three cuttings are made in a single season, 
it is the custom to cut each crop just as the 
plants are commencing to bloom, so that the 
following crop will not be retarded. But in the 


HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 43 

northern tier of states, where the growing sea¬ 
son is somewhat shorter, some farmers prefer 
to make only two cuttings, so as to provide for 
good insurance against winter-killing Then 
it is best to wait until the plants are in full 
bloom. However, if left too long, the leaves will 
commence to fall off, and much of the most 
valuable feeding portion of the plant will be 
lost. Anyone who has had the pleasure of 
feeding alfalfa hay to dairy cattle will testify 
to the fact that the leaves of the alfalfa hay 
are greatly relished by the cattle. The cows 
usually eat first as many of the leaves as they 
can get, even to the extent of “nosing out” the 
bulk of the hay on the barn floor in front of 
the manger, before eating the remainder of 
forage. 

v The harvesting of alfalfa deserves a word 
of attention. With the modern side-delivery 
rake, much of the hay is now raked into wind- 
rows, where it is left to cure in a fluffy mass. 
Another splendid way by which alfalfa hay can 
be cured is by the old-fashioned system of put¬ 
ting the hay up in small bunches, or cocks. 
When this method is followed, hay caps should 
be provided, if quality hay is to be expected, 
for a rain storm falling on these bunches dur¬ 
ing curing is bound to spoil the quality. This 
precaution, of course, involves a little more 
labor, but it pays in the long run, except in a 
dry climate where rains are not frequent. 

The value of alfalfa for feeding purposes can 
probably be better realized when it is stated 
that it has a feeding value about equal to ordi¬ 
nary wheat bran. Well cured alfalfa hay has 


44 HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 

about 11 per cent protein in it, which is one- 
third more than clover contains, and more than 
three times the amount of protein contained in 
timothy hay. As this element, protein, is the 
highest priced feed the farmer has to feed, it 
can be readily seen that alfalfa is an extremely 
desirable crop on any farm. Alfalfa can be fed 
to hogs, sheep and poultry, as well as to cattle. 
Some farmers follow the practice of running 
it through the ensilage cutter, chopping it up 
fine for small pigs and poultry. It is greatly 
relished by these animals in this form. In some 
of the irrigated sections of the west, alfalfa 
is raised as a cash crop. It is baled by hay¬ 
baling machines, and shipped to different parts 
of the country, usually selling at a good price. 
The farmer does not now realize as high a 
profit by selling this hay as he formerly did, 
owing to the increased cost of transportation. 
But this obstacle has proved a blessing in dis¬ 
guise to some farmers, as they have been 
forced to stock up with more cattle to feed on 
the home farm, thereby increasing the fertility 
of their farm, and insuring a more steady in¬ 
come, especially in cases where they bought 
dairy cattle, and sold their cream to a creamery. 

CLOVERS 

Much of what has been said in regard to the 
proper methods of raising alfalfa can be ap¬ 
plied to clover. Clover is also what is known 
as a legume, or a plant that has nitrifying 
bacteria in its roots. There are quite a few 
(different species of clover, but we will confine 



HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 


45 


our discussion to the important farm clovers 
in this country, such as red clover, alsike clover, 

; white clover and crimson clover. 

Red clover seems to be the most popular var- 
l iety of the clovers. There is another closely 
related clover that largely resembles red clover, 
and this is the mammoth clover. Mammoth 
clover usually grows a little ranker than red 
clover, and matures somewhat later. Other¬ 
wise the two varieties are quite similar. Red 
clover is especially popular east of the Mis¬ 
souri River, in the northern section of our 
country, but it does not appear to thrive as 
well in most of the southern states. No doubt 
it would be as popular in the western part of 
. our country also, but for the fact that alfalfa 
\ is so easily grown in the west. 

Much the same methods are used in sowing 
red clover as we discussed under alfalfa. 
Sometimes, where winter wheat is commonly 
raised, the clover seed is sown with the win¬ 
ter wheat, in the late summer, with good re¬ 
sults. As winter wheat is removed from the 
land comparatively early, makes little shade, 
and is moderate in its moisture demand, it 
makes a splendid nurse crop for the new seed-^ 
ing. Clover is often sown in connection with 
timothy so that if the clover, for any reason, 
fails to survive, the farmer still has the tim¬ 
othy to see him through. Usually, a little more 
timothy seed is used than clover seed, the pro¬ 
portion generally being about nine pounds of 
timothy per acre, to about six or seven pounds 
of the clover. 

The correcting of the soil acidity, inocula- 





46 HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 

tion for bacteria, methods of harvesting that 
were taken up in detail under alfalfa, apply to 
the clovers as well as to alfalfa. However, 
clover bacteria are usually more numerous in 
the soil, due to a previous crop than are alfalfa 
bacteria; it, therefore, is hardly ever an impor¬ 
tant practical consideration. The bacteria that 
work on the roots of alfalfa plants are not the 
same kind that work on the clover plants, and 
this means that a piece of land that has previ¬ 
ously grown clover successfully would not 
necessarily grow alfalfa, and vice versa. 

Another quite popular variety of clover is 
alsike clover. Alsike clover does especially 
well on low, wet lands, where other clovers 
fail to thrive. This plant has a longer, more 
slender stem than the other clovers, and, for 
this reason, it is quite liable to lodge if sown 
without some other crop, such as timothy to 
brace the stems. Unlike red clover, it produces 
but one cutting per year, but the quality of 
the hay is excellent. Alsike clover persists 
usually for three or four years, which is longer 
than the farmer can count on red clover stay¬ 
ing with him. 

White clover, previously mentioned in con¬ 
nection with Kentucky blue grass as a pasture 
plant, is quite common. It is a low creeping 
plant, the stem sending out roots to nourish 
the plant, and to increase its propagation. This 
plant is so common that it is seldom necessary 
to sow the seed, as it will soon grow from 
spreading through other agencies. One of the 
best features of white clover is that it grows 
throughout the entire season, which is an im- 


HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 


47 


portant item with the farmer who has stock 
that must be pastured from spring until fall. 

Crimson clover is not popular in this country, 
except in some portions of the eastern part of 
the country. Here it is sown about the first 
of August and used mostly for a cover crop, 
or a green manure crop. It can be used as hay, 
but it has not been raised for this purpose very 
much as yet, due to the hairy character of its 
stems and leaves. 

OTHER LEGUMES 


We have now come to realize that alfalfa and 
the clovers are quite important in our Ameri¬ 
can system of agriculture, but we must not con¬ 
clude that these two plants are the only legumes 
w v hich the farmer has to depend upon. There 
are quite a few other plants that have the abil¬ 
ity of storing up nitrogen by means of these 
root bacteria. Such crops as soy beans, cow- 
peas, field pea, field bean, bur clovers, and 
peanuts are all classified as leguminous crops 
that not only improve the Soil, but give the best 
returns in feeding value. Some of these legumes 
are confined to certain sections of the coun¬ 
try, but we will discuss some of their outstand¬ 
ing characteristics, in order to obtain a general 
idea of their proper growth and cultivation. 


The soy bean is rapidly making a place for 
itself in this country, despite the fact that it 
is a comparatively new crop in America. Adapt¬ 
ed to almost any type of soil, the soy bean is 
finding favor everywhere. It grows especially 







48 HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 

well on soils of a sandy character. A practice 
that is now coming into use is that of planting 
the soy beans with the corn. Some farmers 
have even planted the soy beans in the same 
hills with the corn, getting remarkable yields. 
Others drill it in with the corn, and put the 
mixture into the silo, thereby improving the 
feeding value of the silage materially. Soy 
beans can also be grown alone as a cultivated 
crop, and cut for either the seed or for hay. 
The seed is rich in protein and, when ground 
up, makes a fine stock feed. Some farmers 
plan to use this crop for hay, although it does 
not cure out as readily as some of the regular 
hay crops. However, when properly cured, it 
makes a fine hay. 

The soy bean plant grows up to a bushy form, 
seldom reaching over two feet in height. For 
this reason, it is sometimes difficult to har¬ 
vest it with a corn binder, when sown with 
the corn. If grown separately, it can be hauled 
to the silo at corn cutting time, usually one 
load of the soy beans to two loads of the corn 
being put in the silo. There are special soy 
bean l&arvesters now on the market to harvest 
this crop, but these have not as yet come into 
general use. Special bean threshers can be 
used to shell out the seed, or special screens 
can be inserted in the ordinary threshing ma¬ 
chine to secure the seed of this crop. 

In the growing of the crop, it should be borne 
in mind that soy beans, like all other legumin¬ 
ous crops, should first be inoculated with its 
special kind of bacteria. This is very impor¬ 
tant for best results. It can be sown broadcast, 


HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 49 

if raised for hay, or if raised for its seed, it 
may be drilled in rows about three feet apart. 
When planted with corn, it can be planted with 
the ordinary corn planter, providing the corn 
and soy bean seed are occasionally stirred in 
the planter box, so that they will be thoroughly 
mixed. When planted in rows, it can be culti¬ 
vated for the best part of the growing season, 
as the plant is short and bushy. 

Cowpeas are to the South what alfalfa is to 
the West. The/cowpea is a soil improver, and 
makes a splendid stock feed. The plant resem¬ 
bles the ordinary garden bean in foliage, but 
has long, slender pods, somewhat after the 
fashion of the garden pea. Owing to its need of 
a long growing season, it has not been raised 
in the northern states, but does its best in 
the southern states. One of its most useful 
characteristics is that it will grow on relatively 
poor soil, thus filling a long-felt need in some 
of the poorer sections of the South. The seed 
can be planted like soy beans, either broad¬ 
cast, or in rows. Care should be taken that 
the seed is not planted until all danger of 
frost is over, as this plant is very susceptible 
to freezing. 

Canadian field peas have been mentioned be¬ 
fore in connection with pastures and hay crops. 
They are grown more in Canada than in this 
country, but along the Canadian border this 
plant finds much favor in this country. The 
most common use made of Canadian field peas 
is when they are grown with oats or barley, 
usually the former, and cut for hay. They are 


50 HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 

also used in connection with oats and rape for 
hog pastures. 

They are usually sown at the rate of one and 
one-half bushels of field peas to one bushel 
of oats to the acre. When sown with another 
crop, such as oats, the peas are held up much 
better from the ground than when they are 
sown alone. The common way of sowing this 
crop is by means of the drill, and either mixed 
with the oats or sown separately. This seed 
can be sown just as soon in the spring as the 
ground can be worked up. 

Canadian field peas make a good hay with 
oats, and the making of this hay is not material¬ 
ly different from the making of the other kinds 
of hay. The field peas should be cut for hay 
before the pods are allowed to ripen. Just 
about the time the pods are filling is the ideal 
time to cut field peas. The grain crop, or oats 
should be in the proper hay stage by this time, 
if sown at the same time as the field peas. 
Another precaution to be observed is that too 
much raking of the hay will result in consider¬ 
able loss of seed, so, for this reason, the hay 
should be cured in the cock rather than in 
the swath. 

There are some varieties of the ordinary gar¬ 
den bean that are raised on a larger scale 
than the common garden plan. Some sections of 
the East raise these beans under field condi¬ 
tions, planting them in rows about three feet 
apart, so that they may be cultivated by horse 
drawn implements. Beans require a fairly 
warm soil before they will commence to make 
growth, therefore they cannot be planted quite 


HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 51 

as early in the spring as the other legumes. 
They are sown at the rate of one-half bushel 
per acre. There is a regular bean harvester 
on the market that cuts the plant off near the 
surface of the ground, so that a clean crop can 
be harvested. The vines are hung on a pole 
to dry out, and when perfectly dry, they may 
be flailed, or threshed out with a regular bean 
thresher. 

Vetch is another legume that is raised to a 
great extent, especially as a cover crop and 
soil improver. It is usually sown on the land 
during the latter part of the summer and al¬ 
lowed to remain on the soil until the following 
spring, when it may be plowed under. This 
aids in the humus content of the land, as well 
as increasing the nitrogen supply. Sometimes 
this crop is sown with rye as a cover crop, 
thus making a splendid soil renovator. 

The last legume we will discuss here is the 
common sweet clover. This has grown as a 
weed in most parts of the country, and is 
probably familiar to most people. The plant 
is a tall, rank growing ' biennial, the 
flowers being produced in long spikes. While 
sweet clover has a feeding value about equal 
to alfalfa, it is not nearly as palatable, and 
animals do not care much about it as a feed, 
as the stems are especially thick and woody. 
In some places it is used as a soil improver. 
Where it is artificially sown, about fifteen, 
pounds of seed are sown to the acre. 


52 


HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 


POTATOES 

Ths Irish potato is grown in nearly all coun¬ 
tries of the civilized world, and in' nearly all 
parts of our own country we find this im¬ 
portant crop in evidence. It is not only grown 
as a field crop, but many town people raise at 
least a few early potatoes for their own use, 
to last them until the late potatoes come on 
the market. The Irish potato differs from the 
other crops that we have studied about in re¬ 
gard to its method of propagation. When w~e 
speak of “seed” potatoes, we do not mean 
the real seed, but the real potato, or tuber, 
cut up into pieces, as this is the popular method 
of reproducing this particular crop. The or¬ 
dinary potato has several indentations, or 
“eyes” which have the faculty of sprouting 
and producing a new plant. In fact, most of 
the common potatoes do not produce genuine 
seed any longer. When the farmer gets ready 
to plant his potatoes, he cuts up these potatoes 
into several pieces, each piece containing at 
least one “eye,” and plants them in a well- 
prepared seed bed at a depth o ? f from three to 
five inches. It is generally best to fall-plow 
the land, and then work it up well in the 
spring if best results are to be obtained. 

There are many different varieties of po¬ 
tatoes now being grown, and these varieties 
are classed as early varieties, or late varieties. 
Some of the common early varieties are the 
Early Ohio, Early Rose and the Bliss Triumph. 


HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 53 

The Rural New Yorker, Burbank and Carman 
are popular late varieties. 

Potatoes are planted at the rate of from 12 
to 15 bushels to the acre. They are planted 
in rows about three feet apart, and about 
twelve to sixteen inches apart in the rows. 
In the sections where they are raised on a 
large scale, regular potato planters are used, 
where an extra hopper is provided for com¬ 
mercial fertilizer. In some of these eastern 
sections, such as in Aroostook County, Maine, 
this commercial fertilizer is often applied as 
heavy as one ton to the acre. Manure is more 
generally used in other parts of the country, 
being applied in the winter, or early spring. 

During the growing season, the potatoes 
should be cultivated frequently to keep down 
weeds and to conserve moisture. It is a gen¬ 
eral custom in this country to “hill" the po¬ 
tatoes, after they have made good growth. 
This consists of throwing the soil up against 
the potatoes on each side. When the vines 
commence to die, it is about time to dig the 
potatoes. In the regular potato sections, ma¬ 
chine diggers are employed. These dig¬ 
gers throw up the soil in the potato rows, and 
the potatoes are easily exposed to the surface 
of the ground, where they can be quickly har¬ 
vested. However, in sections where potato 
raising is not a specialty, the potato fork is 
the usual tool used in harvesting the crop. 

There are a few common insect pests and 
diseases that annually exact a heavy toll from 
the potato crop. Early and late blight, scab 
and rot are the usual diseases, while the Colo- 


54 HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 

rado Beetle, more commonly referred to as 
the potato bug, and leafhoppers are the chief 
insect enemies. 

Early blight appears during moist seasons 
on the leaves of the potato plant as dark, ir¬ 
regular spots. Late blight has nearly the same 
appearance, only somewhat later in the season. 
The best preventative known for this disease 
is Bordeaux mixture, which consists of a mix¬ 
ture of blue vitriol and stone lime. This mix¬ 
ture is sprayed upon the leaves, not once, but 
several times during the season, if the blight 
is serious. Scab is a very common disease of 
potatoes, and is usually rather difficult to erad¬ 
icate, especially if the potatoes are raised on 
the same ground, year after year, or if scab- 
infected seed is used in planting the next 
crop. The surest way to eliminate scab from 
potatoes is to plant scab-free seed, in ground 
that has not had potatoes in for about five 
years. The formaldehyde treatment, explained 
in detail in one of the earlier chapters of this 
book is about the best method of treating po¬ 
tato seed infected with scab, but this method 
will be of little help if the ground is not free 
of the disease, also, because scab spores have 
the ability to live in the soil several years. 

The potato bug is an annual pest that causes 
a great amount of damage, sometimes entire¬ 
ly ruining the crop if steps are not taken to 
stop the ravage. To kill these pests, a stom¬ 
ach poison is used, arsenate of lead, or Paris 
green being the common poisons used. These 
chemicals are mixed with water, and sprayed 
on the vines of the potato plant. This poisons 


HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 55 

the leaves, which the potato bugs feed on. The 
result is, that the bugs are sufficiently poisoned 
to cause their death. Usually one application 
is not enough, as there are sometimes two or 
more different broods during the same season. 
One can usually tell when another brood is 
coming, however,~as the eggs are usually laid 
in yellow clusters on the under side of the 
potato leaves. When Paris green is used, care 
must be taken that too much of this is not 
used, because the leaves will be seriously 
burned if the solution is too strong. 

The leaf hopper is a more recent pest. In 
fact, many farmers are not yet acquainted with 
this small insect that flies about among the 
leaves, sucking the sap from the under side of 
the leaves. These leaf hoppers are small green 
colored flies, very quick of action. When they 
suck the sap from the leaves or vines, one 
might suspect that the plants are subject to 
“hopperburn.” The tip of the older leaves 
will turn brown, giving the appearance of 
hopperburn. Gradually, however, the outside 
margin of the entire leaf turns brown, leaving 
a small portion of the mid-rib, still green. Be¬ 
cause of the fact that these insects are equip¬ 
ped with piercing mouth parts, they do not 
chew the leaves, but insert their beak into 
the leaves and extract the sap. Hence, it is 
difficult to control this kind of an insect with 
stomach poisons like that applied for the po¬ 
tato bug. The best method of control for leaf 
hoppers is the Bordeaux spray, which prevents 
the large number of eggs laid on the leaves 
from hatching. 


56 HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 

Potatoes are somewhat of a gamble when 
raised in large quantities, owing- to market 
conditions. If the season has been favorable 
for potato growth, then there are thousands 
of carloads shipped to the markets in the fall 
of the year. While on the other hand, if there 
has been an unfavorable season, due to dry 
weather, diseases, or insects, then potatoes 
are high in price, and the farmer will not have 
many to sell. This difficulty has been rem¬ 
edied in part, however, for many potato grow¬ 
ers have banded together and constructed 
warehouses, so that they can store their po¬ 
tatoes in the fall of the year, and feed the 
market gradually throughout the year. This 
gives the farmer a stable price, and releases 
him from the mercy of the early market. In 
fact, growers of many other farm products 
are organizing in this same manner, to en¬ 
able them to obtain a fair price for their crops. 

CROP ROTATION 

Reference has been made from time to time 
in these pages regarding rotation of crops. 
As this matter is extremely important in the 
growing of the farm crops already discussed, 
a few pages devoted to a further discussion 
of rotation of crops is deemed essential. A 
rotation of crops is generally understood to 
mean a series of different kinds of crops 
grown ori the same piece of land each suc¬ 
ceeding year. For instance, a cultivated crop 
might be grown on a certain field the first 
year, such as corn or potatoes. The next year 


Hints on raising farm crops 57 

a grain crop might be raised on this field, 
such as oats, barley or wheat. Then a grass 
crop may he raised on the field the third year, 
such as clover, for example. By such a sys¬ 
tem, each of the three different types of plants 
can produce a much greater yield than when 
one crop is raised continually on this field. 
We will now inquire further into this matter, 
so that these reasons can be better explained. 

While it cannot be said that crop rotation 
increases fertility, it does prevent the fertility 
from being rapidly exhausted. One of the best 
things about a rotation is that it is a big 
help in keeping down weeds. If one is rais¬ 
ing a grass crop, or a grain crop, continuous¬ 
ly on the same field, weeds will soon enter 
, in and cause a great deal of difficulty. They 
►are especially troublesome when the crop is 
to be sold, because if there are any weeds in 
the farmer’s product, he is paid considerably 
less than the market price. By raising a cul¬ 
tivated crop once in every three or four years 
on this field, the farmer can get a good chance 
to eradicate these weeds. 

The physical condition of the soil is greatly 
improved by the rotation of crops. Some 
plants are very deep-rooted, such as clover 
and alfalfa. When the roots of these plants 
penetrate into the subsoil for several feet, 
they open up this soil, especially after the 
plants are cut, and the roots allowed to de¬ 
cay. This provides a good channel for mois¬ 
ture and air in the soil, as well as subduing 
the subsoil. When one of the crops in the 
rotation is plowed under, as is sometimes the 



58 


HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 


case, or when a crop is included in the rota¬ 
tion for the express purpose of plowing it un¬ 
der, then the physical condition of the soil 
is restored to something like its original struc¬ 
ture. 

Then there is the matter fo damages from 
insects and diseases. By raising one crop 
continuously, these pests are greatly encour¬ 
aged in their destructive work, as they have 
the same host to live upon, in the same place, 
every year. But by rotating the crops, these 
destructive agencies do not have the oppor¬ 
tunity to destroy the crops as much, as dis¬ 
eases and insects, in most cases, cannot travel 
very far from one field to another. 

Crop rotation also makes for safer farming. ; 
When the entire farm is put to the raising 
of just one crop, the farmer may make a 
“killing” or he may “sink.” At any rate, for 
the reasons already stated, he is lowering the 
fertility of his land. But more than this, 
seasonal changes, ravages of disease and in¬ 
sects, and other agencies that often enter in 
to ruin a crop, will have a minor effect on 
the farmer who has had enough foresight to 
raise a variety of crops rather than “putting 
all his eggs in one basket.” Diversification of 
farming operations is always the safest policy 
to follow. The most successful agricultural 
states are those that have not only a variety 
of crops at their disposal, but countless live 
stock to go along with the crops. They both 
go hand in hand. 

We have already mentioned in an earlier 


HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 59 

chapter the advantage of crop rotation from a 
labor standpoint. One of the fine things about 
farming is that the farmer has got pretty nearly 
a different job every day of the year, outside of 
his regular chores. This is made possible by 
having a variety of crops that do not have to 
be cultivated or harvested at the same time. By 
1 planning the crops which he is to raise the 
farmer will be kept busy throughout the sum¬ 
mer season, thereby being able to do most all 
of his own work, himself, instead of having 
the work come in spasms, which would necessi¬ 
tate hired help, or a loss from the crop. 

From a practical standpoint, the rotation 
should include a cash crop. This is a crop 
that is sold for money, so that the farmer has 
something for exchange value. In fact, nearly 
V* very locality has its one particular cash crop. 
Tobacco, cabbages, cotton, wheat and other 
grains are all good examples of cash crops. 
While cash crops, or crops that are sold off 
the farm, are considered as soil robbers in some 
respects, the farmer must have cash, and the 
country must have his product. Hence, the 
cash crop proposition will always be a factor 
in our agriculture. When products are sold off 
the farm, and nothing is put back on the land 
to replace that which has been removed, then 
it must be obvious that the farmer is “losing 
ground.” When a grain crop is sold for cash, 
instead of being sold to the farm animals, the 
least that the farmer can do is to put back the 
straw from the grain in the form of bedding, 
etc. 

It is hoped that -whoever reads these pages 


' 60 HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 

will have gained some ideas of a practical 
nature. Agricultural methods have changed 
since our forefathers invaded this country, and 
it is imperative that the farmer keep up with 
the modern methods of agriculture, because 
he cannot follow the old methods and make the 
farm pay, no matter how sacrificing he and his 
good wife are. A good outline has been pre¬ 
sented in this little book to follow in the cul¬ 
ture of the chief crops raised in this country. 
The writer hopes that this information has not 
been given in vain. 


POCKET SERIES 


61 


Other Titles in Pocket Series 


Drama 

295 Master Builder, Ibsen. 
90 Mikado. Gilbert. 

31 Pelleas and Melisande 
Maeterlinck. 

316 Prometheus. Aeschylos. 
308 Stoops to Conquer. 
Goldsmith. 

134 Misanthrope. Moliere. 
16 Ghosts. Ibsen. 

80 Pillars of Society. 
Ibsen. 

46 Salome. Wilde. 

64 Importance of Being 
Earnest. Wilde. 

8 Lady Windermere’s 
Fan. Wilde. 

. 131 Redemption. Tolstoy. 
99 Tartuffe. Moliere. 

226 The Anti-Semites. 
Schnitzler. 

Shakespeare’s Plays 

359 The Man Shakespeare. 
Vol. 1. Frank Harris. 

360 The Man Shakespeare. 
Vol. 2. Harris. 

361 The Man Shakespeare. 
Vol. 3. Harris. 

362 The Man Shakespeare. 
Vol 4. Harris. 

240 The Tempest. 


241 Merry Wives Windsor. 

242 As You Like It. 

243 Twelfth Night. 

244 Much Ado Nothing. 

245 Measure for Measure. 

246 Hamlet 

247 Macbeth. 

248 King Henry .. 

249 Julius Caesar. 

250 Romeo and Juliet. 

251 Midsummer Night’s 

252 Othello. 

253 King Henry VIH. 

254 Taming of Shrew. 

255 King Lear. 

256 Venus and Adonis. 

257 King Henry IV. 

Part I. 

258 King Henry IV. 

Part II. 

259 King Henry VI. 

Part I. 

260 King Henry VI. 

Part H. 

261 King Henry VI. 

Part III. 

262 Comedy of Errors. 

263 King John. 

264 King Richard III. 

265 King Richard II. 

267 Pericles. 

268 Merchant of Venice. 



62 


POCKET SERIES 


* Fiction 

307 Tillyloss Scandal. 
Barrie. 

331 Finest Story in the 
World. Kipling. 

357 City of the Dreadful 
Night. Kipling. 

363 'Miggles and Other 
Stories. Harte. 

377 A Night in the Lux¬ 
embourg. Remy De 
Gourmont. 

336 The Mark of the 
Beast. Kipling. 

333 Mulvaney Stories. 
Kipling. 

188 Adventures of Baron 
Munchausen. 

352 Short Stones. Wm. 
Morris. 

332 The Man Who Was 
and Other Stories. 

’ Kipling. 

280 Happy Prince. Wilde. 

143 Time of Terror. Bal¬ 
zac. 

182 Daisy Miller. H. James. 

162* Rue Morgue. Poe. 

345 Clairmonde. Gautier. 

292 Fifi. De Maupassant. 

199 Tallow Ball. De Mau¬ 
passant. 

6 De Maupassant’s 
Stories. 

15 Balzac’s Stories. 


344 Don Juan. Balzac. 

318 Christ in Flanders. 
Balzac. 

230 Pieces of Gold. Gau¬ 
tier 

178’ One of Cleopatra’s 
Nights. Gautier. 

314 Short Stories. Daudet. 
58 Boccaccio’s Stories. 

45 Tolstoi’s Short Stories. 
12 Poe’s Tales of Mystery. 
290 The Gold Bug. Poe. 
145 Great Ghost Stories. 

21 Carmen. Merimee. 

23 Great Sea Stories. 

319 Saint-Gerane. Dumas. 
38 Jekyll and Hyde. 

279 Will o’ Mill. Stevenson. 
311 Lodging for Night. 
Stevenson. 

27 Last Days Condemned 
Man. Hugo. 

151 Man Would Be King. 
Kipling. 

148 Strength of Strong 
London. 

41 Xmas Carol. Dickens. 
57 Rip Van Winkle. 

Irving. 

100 Red Laugh. Andrevev. 
105 7 Hanged. Andreyev. 
102 Sherlock Holmes Tales. 
161 Country of Blind 
Wells. 

85 Attack on Mill. Zola. 




POCKET SERIES 


156 Andersen’s Fairy Tales. 
158 Alice in Wonderland. 
37 Dream of Ball. Morris. 
40 House & Brain. Lytton. 
72 Color of Life. Halde- 
man-Julius. 

198 Majesty of Justice. 

Anatole France. 

215 Miraculous Revenge. 
Shaw. 

24 The Kiss. Chekhov. 
285 Euphorian. Moore. 

219 Human Tragedy. 

France. 

196 The Marquise. Sand. 
239 26 Men and Girl. 

Gorki. 

29 Dreams. Schreiner. 
232 Three Strangers. 

Hardy. 

277 Man Without a 
Country. 

History & Biography 

141 Life of Napoleon. 
Finger 

432 Tragic Story of Oscar 
Wilde’s Life. Finger. 
340 Life of Jesus. Ernest 
Renan. 

183 Life of Jack London. 
269 Contemporary Por¬ 
traits. Vol. I. 

Frank Harris. 


63 

2 70 Contemporary Pox 
traits. Vol. 2. 

Frank Harris. 

271 Contemporary For. 
traits. Vol. 3. 

Frank Harris. 

272 Contemporary Por¬ 
traits. Vol. 4. 

Frank Harris. 

328 Addison and His Time. 
312 Life of Sterne. 

324 Life of Lincoln. 

323 Life of Joan of Arc. 
339 Thoreau—the Man 
Who Escaped From 
the Herd. 

126 History of Rome. Giles. 
128 Julius Caesar’s Life. 
185 History of Printing. 
149 Historic Crimes. 

Finger. 

175 Science of History. 
Froude. 

104 Waterloo. Hugo. 

52 Voltaire. Hugo. 

125 War Speeches of 
Wilson. 

22 Tolstoy, Life and Wks. 
142 Bismarck’s Life. 

286 When Puritans Ruled. 
343 Life of Columbus. 

66 Crimes of Borgias. 
Dumas. 

287 Whistler; The Man 
and His Work. 

51 Life of Bruno. 




POCKET SERIES 


64 

147 Cromwell and His 
Times. 

236 Heart Affairs Henry 
VIII. 

50 Paine’s Common Sense. 

88 Vindication of Paine. 
Ingersoll. 

33 Brann: Sham Smasher. 

163 Life in Greece and 
Rome. 

214 Speeches of Lincoln. 

276 Speeches of Washing¬ 
ton. 

144 Was Poe Immoral? 

223 Essay on Swinburne. 

150 Lost Civilizations. 

227 Keatc. The Man and 
His Work. 

170 Constantine and Be¬ 
ginnings of Chris¬ 
tianity. 

201 Satan and the Saints. 

67 Church History. 

169 Voices From the Past. 

266 Life of Shakespeare. 

123 Life of Du Barry. 

139 Life of Dante. 

69 Life of Mary, Queen 
of Scots. 

5 Life of Johnson. 
Macaulay. 

174 Trial of William Penn. 


Humor 

291 Jumping Frog. Twain. ] 
18 Idle Thoughts. Jerome. 
166 English as She Is 
Spoke. Twain. 

231 Humorous Sketches. 

Twain. 

205 Artemus Ward. His 
Book. 

187 Whistler’s Humor. 

216 Wit of Heine. Eliot. 

20 Let’s Laugh. Nasby. 

Literature 

442 Oscar Wilde in Out¬ 
line. Finger. 

305 Machiavelli. Lord 
Macaulay. 

358 Virginibus Puerisque. 
Stevenson. 

431 Literary Stars on 
Scandinavian Firma¬ 
ment. Moritzen. 

435 Hundred Best Books. 
Powys. 

109 Dante and Other 
Waning Classics. 

Vol. 1. Mordell. 

110 Dante and Other 
Waning Classics. 

Vol. 2. Mordell. 

349 An Apology for Idlers. 
Stevenson. 

355 Aucassin and Nieolete. 
Lang. 





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